The Days of Lore

Black Friday: Maiden heaven

Friday, August 27th, 2010 | musiX | 2 Comments

Yesterday I stumbled on to the Billboard 200 chart. The top five caught my eye, and were as follows:

1. Eminem - Recovery
2. Kem - Intimacy
3. Ray LaMontagne - God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise
4. Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier
5. Trace Adkins - Cowboy’s Back in Town

Now, that is a motley crue. Upon seeing this, I realize a few things: a) I’m shocked that I am actually familiar with three of the five names, b) I don’t even know who Trace Adkins is, but I’d like to punch him in the face, and c) Wait … is that Iron Maiden?

My relationship with Iron Maiden is a long, bittersweet one. It all goes back to that fateful day I won a Piece of Mind poster at the Sun Country Fair in Red Bluff by popping balloons with some darts … or was it when I shoplifted that Powerslave cassette from Kmart? Either way, I think I was in eighth grade. The poster hung on my wall next to a poster of Van Halen with Diamond Dave sporting those assless chaps, and the tape spent time in my $9.99 Dynatone personal cassette player. Maiden was much heavier than most of the music I listened to. They didn’t sing about chicks. Or partying. They sang about Pharaohs. And flying. I liked it, but not nearly as much as my Out of the Cellar tape.

Iron Maiden continued to be one of those bands I enjoyed, but never fully invested in. My friends in high school raved about Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. I raved about Dancing Undercover and Crazy Nights. I wouldn’t actually ‘t steal buy another Iron Maiden album until 17 years later (fortunately bypassing the horrible non-Bruce Dickinson albums). I was living in Spain, and Maiden was scheduled to perform at Plaza de Toros de Illumbe on June 13, 2003—I was going to this show. To prepare for this event my roommates and I purchased Live After Death, Iron Maiden’s 1985 double live album (a must-own for any metal fan), on CD and played it non-stop for a month. Then we didn’t go to the show. By the time the 13th came around the semester had ended, we were broke, and we decided that cañas and bocadillos at Juantxo were much more important than Iron Maiden tickets (because they were). I think my roommate Matt Davidson ended up with that Live After Death CD.

My next encounter with Maiden came a year later in the form of a used vinyl copy of The Number of the Beast given to me for my birthday. The cover scared the bejesus out of me when I was a kid … I mean, look at it for chrissakes! Released in 1982, Beast is the first Maiden album to feature the operatic pipes of Bruce Dickinson … yes, the Bruce Dickinson. And it has a great version of “Run to the Hills”!

I’ve since repurchased Live After Death (”Scream for me, Long Beach!”). And I finally saw Iron Maiden in 2005 at Ozzfest. I don’t even remember who else played—but Maiden was fucking great, and Dickinson’s vocals belied his years. It might as well have been 1985. You would think I’d have actually listened to the copy of 2006’s A Matter of Life and Death, given to me by a friend who insisted on its greatness. Yet, I’m looking at the disc as I type this, still wrapped in cellophane. That all changes today. That said, I’ll let you know what I think of the new record The Final Frontier when I get around to listening to it in 2014.

“Run to the Hills” - Iron Maiden (Live After Death)

“El Dorado” - Iron Maiden (The Final Frontier)

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Tags: Black Friday, Iron Maiden, Piece of Mind, Powerslave, The Final Frontier, The Number of the Beast

Black Friday: Reading between the lines

Friday, June 19th, 2009 | musiX | 3 Comments

Historically in metal, a band’s image is as (if not more) important as the music itself. From the band’s name, to its garb, right down to the logo. Alice Cooper and KISS were better-known for what they looked like than the music they made (more true with the latter). When metal ruled in the late ’70s and the ’80s, it was all about image … until it regressed to absurdity before finally getting smothered by the always-fashionable flannel shirt.

The Me Decade is when the metal logo was truly birthed—a single, defining brand that could be easily seen and recognized on records, posters and, most importantly, T-shirts. Bands like Motörhead and Judas Priest went with classically ornate logos, while the aforementioned KISS chose a simple, very memorable signature lighting-bolt “SS” (turned into backwards “ZZ” when the band toured Germany). It carried over into the ’80s when it was all about the logo—Metallica, Exodus, Slayer, RATT, Anthrax, Dio, Def Leppard, AC/DC—all of which could be found scrawled on notebooks and in bathroom stalls, or crudely written or carved on school desktops … or so I’ve heard.

The tradition carries on today. In metal if you don’t have a tough/menacing logo, you might as well be playing Showtunes. Especially in black metal. In fact, in the world of black metal a band’s logo might be the first, and sometimes only, identifying element. It doesn’t even have to be legible for chrissakes, as bands are seemingly trying to one-up each other in keeping their names a mystery to the world.

So. For this Black Friday, I’ve scoured the bottomless pit of the Interwebs to find the most unruly, tangled, illegible band logos possible. It is your duty to try to decipher them. I’ll post one new logo per day (not including Saturday and Sunday) through Thursday, June 25. Shoot your answers to me at mark@thedaysoflore.com. The person who guesses the most band names correctly out of five will win a classic metal album of my choosing. Yes, this means all five people who both listen to metal and read TDoL have a chance to win a disc. It will, of course, be an incredible metal masterpiece.

Deadline is midnight (PDT), Thursday, June 25, and the winner will be announced next Black Friday. It will take a keen eye. It might also help in some cases to be fluent in Finnish.

Ridiculously unreadable band logo No. 1: This band comes from—you guessed it—Finland. They enjoy long walks in the snow, and their lyrics are as unintelligible as their logo.

Tags: AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Anthrax, Black Friday, Def Leppard, Exodus, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, KISS, metal band logos, Metallica, Motörhead, RATT, Slayer

Black Friday: A picture is worth a thousand metal lyrics

Friday, March 13th, 2009 | musiX | 3 Comments

Metal can be summed up in one simple sentence: Dungeons and Dragons meets smut mag meets horror flick meets Marvel Comics. Of course, the music touched on most of these manly topics, but it was the album covers that drew pubescent boys into the seedy underbelly of heavy metal. And back when records ruled, you could get lost staring at the cover image.

It’s a topic that’s no doubt been endlessly written about. Since it’s Black Friday here at The Days of Lore as well as Friday the 13th, I’ve decided to make my own list of worthy heavy metal album covers. Click the covers to see a larger image, at your own risk, of course.

Vulgar Display of Power - Pantera (1992) According to metal lore, it took some 30 takes to capture this photo of Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo socking a fan in the face. The volunteer was apparently paid $10 per punch. Well. One fan’s stupidity led to one of the best metal album covers ever … and a far cry from Pantera’s early years. I’m very happy to say I’ve only been on the receiving end of a Phil Anselmo hug.

Kill ‘Em All - Metallica (1983) The stark and eerie image is still one of my favorites. The cover of Metallica’s debut leaves a lot to the imagination, unlike the original concept for the original title, Metal Up Your Ass, which had this cover. About as subtle as … well, a large dagger up your ass. The idea for the Kill ‘Em All cover came from late bassist Cliff Burton—sort of sums up the fact that when he died, so did a lot of Metallica’s coolness.

Destroyer - KISS (1976) It would be silly not to include a KISS album. The band was ready-made for the visual aspect of metal. The Destroyer cover was painted by fantasy artist Ken Kelly, who studied under another well-known fantasy artist Frank Frazetta. Kelly also did covers for Conan the Barbarian comics as well as album covers for Manowar, Rainbow and later on Coheed and Cambria. He also painted KISS’ Love Gun album cover. Yes, with this cover the members of KISS remain forever young, even as they continue to tour as old farts in makeup and Spandex.

The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden (1982) I remember seeing a poster of this and staring as long as I could without people thinking I was weird. I was 10. It scared me. And I wanted to own it. Derek Riggs created the famous Eddie mascot, who has appeared in one form or another on every Maiden album. The Number of the Beast was the band’s third album and first with vocalist Bruce Dickinson. The recording process was filled with bizarre occurrences, including a car accident involving producer Martin Birch and a “religious nutter.” Total damage to his car: £666.66.

Anthology - Manowar (1997) Umm … it’s Manowar. My guess is that the members didn’t have a lot of money for clothing at this juncture in their career. No? They were really proud of their workout routines? Wait, I got it. According to Norse mythology, real Vikings used baby oil.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Black Sabbath (1973) This is a bit creepy. Consider it came out in 1973, and it’s fucking frightening. Artist Drew Struzan, a Portland, Ore. native, also did album covers for some other noteworthy satanic musicians including the Beach Boys, Liberace and Glenn Miller. He’s also done hundreds of movie posters, and became a favorite of Spielberg and Lucas as he created the images for E.T., Back to the Future and all of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films. Wholesome family entertainment, just like Satan and Black Sabbath.

The Wretched Spawn - Cannibal Corpse (2004) I worked at a record store when Cannibal Corpse got its start with savory albums like Tomb of the Mutilated and Eaten Back to Life. I remember thinking they were pretty ridiculous. Well, those crazy kids really outdid themselves with The Wretched Spawn—little demonic things crawling out of other things all in the name of good ol’-fashioned heavy metal shock value. Comic book artist Vince Locke water-colored the cover, and actually had his tattoo-artist bro ink another CC album cover called Butchered at Birth on to his skin. Cannibal Corpse: Bringing families closer.

Lovehunter - Whitesnake (1979) Really? So ridiculous that it’s actually great. So great, in fact, that I’m going to have my non-tattoo artist brother ink this on to my face.

Overkill - Motörhead (1979) Just a classic. Joe Petagno created Snaggletooth B. Motörhead, the fanged menace that appeared on all but two of the band’s 19 albums. Petagno said he researched a number of skull types and ended up with some sort of gorilla-wolf-dog combination with over-sized boar horns. It’s as metal as Lemmy … and Lemmy is pretty fucking metal.

Betty - Helmet (1994) I’ve always loved the contrast between the sludgy riffs contained within and the squeaky-clean cover. It looks like a scene from a Leave It to Beaver episode. The cover was no doubt the ’90s’ answer to the excesses of ’70s and ’80s metal. Yes, it’s unlikely we will ever see another album cover dipicting a naked woman writhing in ecstasy atop a giant demonic serpent again. And that’s just sad.

Tags: Betty, Black Sabbath, Cannibal Corpse, Derek Riggs, Destroyer, Drew Struzan, Helmet, Iron Maiden, Joe Petagno, Ken Kelly, Kill 'Em All, KISS, Manowar, Metallica, Motörhead, Overkill, Pantera, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, The Number of the Beast, The Wretched Spawn, Vince Locke, Vulgar Display of Power

Black Friday? Meet Black Elk

Friday, November 28th, 2008 | musiX, pdX | No Comments

Today’s the day. The sheep awaken at 4 in the morning so that they can invade shopping malls across the nation to fulfill their cheap, consumeristic desires. Me? I thought it was only fitting to wake up at 7:09 a.m. on this Black Friday so that I could bring you the new weekly feature here at The Days of Lore called … “Black Friday.”

However, this new Friday tradition should not be confused with shopping, or historical disasters. TDoL’s Black Friday will examine the unholy underworld of metal. Why? Because I grew up in a town called Red Bluff listening to Helmet and Pantera and Slayer and Metallica and Iron Maiden and RATT. Ahem.

Some weeks Black Friday will be a sociological examination of metal, where I get my dainty hands dirty in a genre with a longstanding tradition of grown men wearing makeup and teasing their hair, drugs, sexism and satanism, or any other kind of “ism” you can think of. Metal can be goofy (see Manowar), frightening (e.g. Gorgoroth). And in most cases metal fans are, well, fanatic. Even if metal’s not your thing, it’ll at least be interesting.

Sometimes I will even point out bands that are actually good. Like this week …

What better way to kick off Black Friday than with Portland’s own Black Elk. The four-piece just released its second full-length Always a Six, Never a Nine, a record that harkens back to the sludgy, smart noise of early Amphetamine Reptile (Melvins, Chokebore, Helmet). Basically it’s metal without being too metally (look it up!)—loads of skull-slicing riffage, tempered with just enough weirdness and a vocalist who doesn’t sound like Cookie Monster’s cuz.

Black Elk was featured in a recent Willamette Week article on a metal club at a local high school—yes, we encourage headbanging in school. The band has a couple of dates lined up, including Jan. 10 at Someday Lounge. There are two benefit shows scheduled for Dec. 6 and 7 to help with medical expenses for guitarist Erik Trammell, who was hit while riding his bike to work in late September in our bike-friendly city. On that note … listen to these ditties, and get out there and pump your hard-earned dough back into the economy. It’s Black Friday!

[The Black Friday feature will appear every Friday in addition to the usual TDoL goodies.]

“She Pulled Machete” - Black Elk (Always a Six, Never a Nine)

“Elk Takes Night” - Black Elk (self-titled)

Tags: Always a Six Never a Nine, Amphetamine Reptile, Black Elk, Black Friday, Chokebore, Erik Trammell, Helmet, Iron Maiden, Melvins, Pantera, RATT, Slayer